NCRI – On Sunday, October 23, Mr. Asghar Qattan, a political prisoners incarcerated in Gohardasht prison, underwent a medical examination and doctors confirmed that he is in serious health condition. They emphasized that he should be hospitalized and monitored 24 hours a day due to his illness, but the judiciary executives in many ways prevent his dispatch to the hospital. Among the obstacles are the use of handcuffs and shackles and constant presence of several security agents contemptuously which create a security environment in the hospital that hurts patients, hospital staff and doctors.
Mr. Qattan told the medical examiner that “this situation and contemptuous dispatch of patients with shackles and handcuffs to hospitals not only does not help patients but also creates psychological pressure. On the other hand, the atmosphere in the prison hall lacks minimal air conditioning and one half of something they call a window is enclosed with a (brick or cement) wall and the other half is covered with metal shutters and a mesh and a reticulated metal plate welded to the window and recently they are welding another metal plate to the windows. Oxygen deficiency is causing gradual death and so far four people in the last two to three years have lost their lives in the prison for this reason.”
It should be noted that despite Mr. Asghar Qattan’s age being over 60 and despite suffering from diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, heart disease, prostate and kidney disease and constantly experiencing shortness of breath and despite the fact that so far several warrant regarding inability to bear the punishment is issued for him, unfortunately no action has been taken for his release or proper medical treatment.
Mr. Asghar Qattan is a steadfast political prisoner and a supporter of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI or MEK, who has previously endured 6 years imprisonment in the 1980s and was released in 1987. But after the 2009 uprising in Iran, he was arrested again and has been in prison since December 2010 after a ruling by the notorious Judge Moghiseh.
